My So-called Life
by Alistair Ulven
Summary: A new town, new school, new friends, an arrogant jerk and his weirdly familiar older brother and even weirder friends? People with disturbingly unethical agendas, students and teachers alike whose plans strangely seemed to revolve around her? Just how much is a sixteen year old supposed to handle? A simple boarding school story or is it? ItaSakuDei for the moment.
1. Introductions

Hey! If any of Caught in a Riff's readers are reading this, I just want to say that I will not be neglecting Caught in A Riff but the updates on this story will be a little unpredictable since I'm working on that story too. That's all. Happy reading and hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto, or Bleach, or Megan Meade or anything at all, except the plot.

Summary: A new town, new school, new friends, an arrogant jerk and his weirdly familiar older brother and even weirder friends? People with disturbingly unethical agendas, students and teachers alike whose plans strangely seemed to revolve around her? Just how much is a sixteen year old supposed to handle? A simple boarding school story or is it? ItaSakuDei for the moment.

**Chapter 01**

I remember being really excited when my parents told me that we would be moving to Seattle, Washington. I mean, Seattle is like the birthplace of the grunge rock movement, my favorite genre of music, and my parents even promised to take me to visit the late Kurt Cobain's home in Aberdeen, so yeah I was pretty psyched.

But all that turned out to be worthless when my parents dropped the bomb about school.

I know what you're thinking. Everyone has goes to school so why am I complaining?

However, this is not normal school, its boarding school! And not even cool boarding school; it's a JAPANESE boarding school. And why am I being sent to a Japanese boarding school in Seattle? (Did you even know that there were Japanese boarding schools in Seattle?) Because, apparently I am half-and-half and mine and my brother's first names were not just something my mom and dad came up with when they had too many glasses of vodka. God my brother is so lucky. He's going to college while I'm stuck here! Well, at least I don't have to do my studies in Japanese since the school has an English program and almost all of the kids are enrolled in it, so that they can benefit from learning English. Still, I wonder why my parents waited this long to tell me that I was half Japanese? I mean, they could have done it when I was still a kid, which would have made it easier for everyone. Well, I'm sure they had their 'reasons' as they like to tell me constantly.

Thank heaven I didn't have a lot of friends back in Chicago, or my parents would have been put into a situation similar to that of the book 'Megan Meade's Guide to the McGowan boys'. In it, Megan's parents want her to move to South Korea but she doesn't want to leave her friends so decides to stay with some family friends, i.e. the McGowan family, which consists of seven boys. Of course, the only people I would be staying with are my fussy aunt and her annoying sanctimonious snob of a daughter and the only boys I would be seeing are the fictional ones in mangas.

_Anyway_, that little disclosure followed a huge argument involving some choice words and a few door slams, which bring me to where I am, listening to a boring lecture for all the new students in the entrance hall of Naruto Boarding School (lol), my luggage already delivered to my room wherever that was.

The Head Mistress, a severe looking woman called Tsunade started to brief us on the importance of a good education and my eyes slipped longingly out the window over to the lawn out in front where all the older students were laughing and having lunch. Sigh. I wish I could be out there instead of listening to this boring speech… Well at least there were no classes on the first day.

Suddenly, a boy in the lawn looked up from the book he was reading and gazed straight at me, his onyx eyes piercing my own sea foam green ones. He had pale skin, paler than mine, which was saying something, and dark hair that was hidden by the hoodie he was wearing. Girls were fawning all around him but he didn't pay any heed to them.

Something like surprise lingered in his dark eyes for a brief moment but was soon replaced by an unreadable expression.

I gazed back earnestly. There was something about him that was weirdly familiar. I racked my brain but just couldn't put my finger on it.

Then, he scowled at me; his dark eyes alight with something I couldn't put a name to.

I blinked. Why the hell was he scowling at me when I hadn't done anything? Weird.

Out of the blue, he stood up, popped his book into his messenger bag and took off, hands in his pockets and a trail of giggling girls following him.

I kept staring at the spot he was sitting on as if he would appear magically if I stared hard enough but he didn't appear.

"Miss Haruno, do you have something to share?" Tsunade asked, and I tore my eyes away from the lawn and onto my lap.

Hm. I wonder whom she's talking to...

"Miss Haruno!" Tsunade said again, her voice angry but somehow amused at the same time.

"Hey, girl with the freakishly weird hair, she's talking to you", the girl next to me whispered.

I jumped in my seat. Shit! It was so hard to remember that my name was Haruno Sakura and not Sakura Porter like I thought it was.

"Um, yes?" I said nervously and a few kids giggled in their seats. "Please pay attention and refrain from staring out the window", Tsunade said with something in between a frown and a smile and returned to her lecture.

I nod but kept a discreet eye out the window in case the guy came back apparently, my luck was out today because he didn't reappear.

"That being said, I hope you enjoy your school life here to the best extent", Tsunade concluded her lecture more than a half hour later and many students (including myself) sighed in relief.

"Students, please proceed to your dorms with your house master", Tsunade's gruff voice boomed over the din of the kids.

Another "interesting" fact about this school was that the students were divided into houses based on their strengths, interests and personalities. There were three houses in all, Konoha or leaf, Suna or Sand, Oto or sound, and then Akatsuki, the elite college branch of the school with apparently very few students, which my brother couldn't get into because his 'qualifications were not substantial enough' or some bullshit like that. Apparently, I was in leaf. Leaf, surprisingly, was not represented by a leaf like I had thought it would be but some weird swirly thing. Sand was represented by an hourglass, Sound by a musical note obviously and Akatsuki by a red cloud. I had already been handed a red cloth like thing with a metal plate on which the leaf symbol was engraved which I had tied onto my wrist.

Three men appeared out of the doorway. One wore a mask, which revealed a lone eye and had spiky silver hair. Another had red hair and green eyes and looked like he had a stick up his ass. The last, frankly, looked disgusting, since he kept looking at us and licking his lips like we were something to eat.

The silver haired one spoke out. "Students in leaf, follow me please". Seems like I was stuck with the least creepy looking person, thank god for that.

Some other students and I followed him out into a hallway.

"Yo! I'm Kakashi and I will be your house master", he said in an extremely bored tone of voice. His eyes looked as bored as his voice sounded and there was the swirly leaf symbol tied onto the long sleeved shirt he was wearing.

"Thanks for pointing that out Captain obvious", I muttered under my breath but I'm pretty sure he heard me.

He sighed in a long suffering manner. "My first impression of you guys is I don't like you".

I rolled my eyes and a few students gasped while others ignored him. "Aren't you going to take us to the dorms already?" one kid whined.

Kakashi ran his hand through his absurd hair. "Sure, sure, follow me".

Drawing the hood of my jacket over my head, the rest of the kids and I followed him. On the way, we saw a bouncy guy with a few kids. The kids seemed to be bullying him and he was just sitting there, taking it. I sort of felt sorry for him.

A blonde haired guy saw me watching and grinned at me. He looked like a delinquent; a yankee or yakuza in manga-speak. Me gusta.

I grinned back and turned to Kakashi. "Who is that masked guy?" I asked him.

"Oh, that is Tobi. He is one of the members of Akatsuki", Kakashi replied noncommittally.

"That guy is a member of Akatsuki?!" a chubby guy asked, obviously surprised.

"Ah", Kakashi nodded. "But he doesn't look like much", another kid remarked.

"You shouldn't judge others based on their appearances", a soft though deep voice came from behind the kid.

A guy with long dark spiky hair smiled at us. "It's been a while, Kakashi-san", he said. This guy looked a bit like the boy I'd seen before except for the fact that he was older and much more strict looking.

"Aa", Kakashi replied. "How have you been Madara-san?" he inquired politely though something about his tone gave out a subtle hint that he wasn't pleased that this man was here.

"I have been well, thank you", this Madara guy responded callously. Was it just me or did the room get a little colder. Jeez.

"Who is this guy?" I whispered to the chubby kid.

"That's Madara-san", the guy stage-whispered back, his tone full of admiration. "He's one of the School's founders".

So he was a founder huh? This guy looked really serious and sort of scary. Looking closer at him, I noticed that his shirt had a small black badge pinned to it with a logo of red clouds. So he was connected to Akatsuki in some way.

Probably noticing my scrutiny, he glanced at me "And you must be Haruno Sakura", he said monotonously.

Though he was polite, he had an eerie air about him. He seemed like one of those creepy strong and silent villains you often read about in shounen mangas.

"Yeah", I nodded, a little startled that he knew my name. "How do you know my name?" I asked suspiciously.

"Sakura, Madara-san here is one of the school's founders", Kakashi explained. "So it's only natural that he knows of you".

"Oh. Well, it's nice to meet you Madara-san", I said, thanking my mangas for my knowledge of Japanese honorifics.

"Likewise, Sakura". The rest of the students stared at him in awe but Madara doesn't seem to notice or he ignored them.

A few feet over, Tobi was still being yelled at by the kids, Akatsuki, maybe.

"I apologize but I must take my leave now", Madara said. "Tobi is in a somewhat problematical situation over there".

"Ah, yes, I'll see you later Madara-san", again Kakashi's tone was polite but something was off about the way he said it. Maybe I was reading into things too much, wouldn't be the first time. Madara nodded at us and continued on his way.

Kakashi lead us to Konoha's dorms. The dorms were connected to one common room, stairways leading off on either side of it to the boys and girls dorms, left and right respectively. Apparently, my room was number seven.

My room had white walls, a blue-carpeted floor with matching white and blue curtains and two beds with pure white bedspreads along with two tall cupboards and a working desk. Also, there was a curtain between the two beds, for privacy, I guess.

My luggage was lying near the bed closest to the windows, which I assumed was mine. Judging from the two beds, I must have a roommate. I wonder who she is. Probably another weirdo judging by the people I've met so far.

I started to unpack my suitcase and sort my stuff into one of the cupboards. Holding up my favorite pair of faded jeans, I glanced at it fondly. At least this school allowed casual dress. That would have been a deal breaker. No casual wear, no Sakura.

Just as I was folding in one of my tank tops, the door burst open so abruptly that I nearly dropped the tank.

A blonde haired girl with cornflower blue eyes walked in followed by a brunette and a dark haired, pale skinned girl. All there had the cloth with the leaf symbol tied onto various parts of their body.

The three of them stopped in their tracks as soon as they noticed me, still holding up the tank.

The blonde was the first to regain her composure. "Hi!" she said brightly. "You must be Sakura. I'm Ino and this is Hinata and Tenten", she gestured to the dark haired girl and the brunette respectively.

"Uh, Hey", I said. "Nice to meet you". Phew, they speak English.

"N-nice to meet you too Sakura-chan", Hinata said softly. I suspected she was pretty shy by the way she was wringing her fingers. She was wearing her, um, badge, for lack of a better word, loosely around neck and she had soft, pale doe eyes.

"Hey, cool tank", Tenten said, eyeing my black and white tank with the slogan "Friends don't let friends drive Chevys" admiringly.

"Thanks", I said with a smile. I liked this girl already.

"So uh, not to be rude, but which one of you is my roommate?" I asked sheepishly and Ino giggled.

"That would be me and Hina and Tenten are just next door". Both Ino and Tenten, like me, had tied their badges onto their wrists.

"Cool", I said and the girls sat down on Ino's bed and we spend the next few hours chatting about clothes and music, leading to Ino and Tenten having a huge argument on which group was better, One Direction (Ino's opinion) or Green Day (Tenten) Personally, I went with Green Day. I was not a fan of boy bands. Actually, I shudder to think about them, no offense to people who like them.

"So how long have you guys been here?" I questioned.

"Well, the three of us are childhood friends and we transferred here together. We got here two years back, when we were fourteen so, we're third years now", Ino answered my question.

I sighed in relief. "Thank goodness. We're all third years then so we must have the same classes", I said, thankful that I would see some familiar faces in class.

"Don't worry, we'll look out for you", Tenten said with a grin and Ino and Hinata nodded, the former enthusiastically and the latter gently.

"And I'll be sure to introduce you to some cute guys", Tenten and Hinata giggled at Ino's statement.

As if Ino's statement triggered something in my brain, my mind drifted to the dark haired boy I had seen on the lawn earlier.

"Speaking of guys, do you know someone with dark hair and like these really intense black eyes?" I asked, curious to find out whether one of my new friends knew about him. I had to know about this guy. He just sort of struck a chord in me. "I saw him in the lawn back when Tsunade was droning but he disappeared suddenly".

Ino, Tenten and Hinata shared knowing glances.

"What?" I asked, bewildered.

"Dark hair, striking eyes, mysterious demeanor, you must be talking about Sasuke", Ino said.

"Sasuke? Who's that?" I inquired curiously. Name doesn't really ring a bell though so I guess I was just reading too much with the familiarity thing. Maybe I had seen him somewhere.

"The school heartthrob", Tenten answered lazily, looking up from the magazine she was reading.

School heartthrob? He definitely didn't seem like that. I mean, girls were literally fawning around him but he didn't seem to give a crap about them.

"I know what you're thinking. You're thinking 'he didn't look like a player'", Ino said knowingly, as though she had read my thoughts.

"H-he's not a bad person Sakura-chan", Hinata joined in.

"Actually, he doesn't care about girls at all. The only person he opens up to is Naruto", Ino continued.

"Naruto?" I asked and noticed that Hinata perked up when she heard the name. "Isn't that the name of the school?"

"Yeah, but it's just a coincidence that his name's the same as the school or is that the other way around… Anyway, he's Sasuke's best friend. You'll probably see both of them tomorrow", Tenten responded.

All of a sudden, a voice echoed throughout the room. I jumped but the others remained calm. "It's o-okay Sakura chan. That's just Tsunade sama-through the speaker", Hinata pointed to a white speaker connected to the left corner of the ceiling.

"All students please return to your own rooms immediately. Lights out in 10 minutes", Tsunade's stern voice rang out.

The girls and I sighed. I glanced at my watch. It was still only eight fifty. Surely, she couldn't expect us to turn in that early?

"Well, I guess we should get back, right Hinata?" Tenten said and Hinata nodded in agreement.

"I'll see you guys", Tenten said.

"A-Ah. Good night Sakura-chan, Ino-chan", Hinata smiled softly.

Ino and I bade both of them good night, changed into our pyjamas, and crawled under the sheets.

Ino let out a huge yawn, which set me off too and soon the both of started to feel drowsy.

"Well, good night Ino", I said sleepily.

"Yeah, 'night Saks", Ino responded and turned off the night light.

"I'll introduce you to Sasuke and Naruto tomorrow", she said and with that, the two of us are dead to the world.

* * *

"Yo, Sakura, wake up!" was my only warning before a fluffy pillow assaulted my face.

"Huh!" I exclaimed, sitting up in an unfamiliar bed in an equally unfamiliar room, a blonde girl dressed in a bathrobe looking down at me with her hands on her hips.

"Come on or we'll be late for class", she said and threw me a garment of some sort.

Oh, right. I wasn't at home anymore. I was at my new school and the blonde was Ino, my new roommate.

I glanced at the horrible looking piece of fabric in my arms in revulsion. It took a few seconds for me to realize that it was a bathrobe.

Probably noticing my disgusted expression, Ino smiled sheepishly. "Sorry Saks, it's the only spare I have and don't worry, it's clean.

"I guess I don't have any choice", I sighed in resignation. I hadn't thought to bring a bathrobe with me.

Grabbing a towel from my cupboard, I draped myself in the furry orange and black monstrosity and followed Ino, who was heading out of our room, wondering how many animals had to be killed to make this thing.

The hallway that our room was in was deserted. Ino and I were the only ones who were up, it seemed. Thank God for that or I would have become a laughing stock.

"Hey Ino, where are we going?" I asked, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

"We're going to the girl's bathroom. Sorry about the rude awakening but we have to get there early or all the hot water will be gone", Ino explained with an apologetic expression.

"It's fine. I'm used to it", I said with a grin, remembering all the times my brother had to douse me with water to wake me up back at home.

Suddenly a wave of nostalgia hit me. I wonder how my parents are doing. Maybe they had gotten all settled in the new house, my dad was probably heading out to work this minute, and of course, my brother Ichiro would be in college. Hmm... I wonder if mom was feeding Sam, my dog.

Probably noticing my wandering expression, Ino nudged me gently. "You alright?" she asked me concernedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine", I said, snapping out of my thoughts. "Hey, there's Hinata and Tenten", I noticed them waving at us near a large mahogany door marked "Girls Bathroom", Hinata donned in a simple white bathrobe while Tenten wore a black one with silver pattern.

"Whoa Saki, no offense but you look like something out of B rate horror movie", Tenten whistled.

"Tenten chan, t-that's rude", Hinata nudged the brunette's arm.

"Its fine Hinata", I laughed. "I guess I do look like a deranged serial killer with what the pink bed hair and the freaky bathrobe".

"You said it! The only thing that's missing is a chainsaw", Tenten joked as we walked into the washroom.

The girls bathroom was a fairly large place, with several claw footed tubs separated by waist high partitions and with shower curtains for privacy.

"Weird. I thought there would be stalls", I said aloud.

Ino shrugged noncommittally. "That's what we first thought too but I guess the founders wanted an old fashioned feel or whatever".

What's old fashioned about this? I picked a random tub and closed the curtains. The others do the same and within minutes, we're all basking in the glory of warm waters. Ha! That sounded seriously corny.

When we finished washing up and got ready to go back to the dorms, girls came bursting in, chattering loudly. As we exited, we heard a few of them complaining that the hot water was out, causing us to giggle.

Ino and I parted ways with Hinata and Tenten, agreeing to meet after to go to classes and hurried into our room to change.

I pulled the separating curtain across and made sure that the blinds were shut before changing out of the bathrobe and into a loose baby pink tank with a black cut off jacket on top, a black corduroy mini and black converse high tops and pulled up my long pink tresses into a messy ponytail, my bangs covering my forehead. My badge was of course, still on my wrist.

"Hey Ino, you done yet?" I asked from my side of the curtain.

"Yep. All done", she replied brightly and I opened the curtains to see Ino dressed in a white off the shoulder top with a blue sweater over it and a black skirt along with ankle high boots. Her ultra long platinum locks were down and went past her butt.

"Whoa Ino, you look awesome", I said in amazement.

"Thanks Saks. You look great too except, why on earth are you not wearing your smexy hair down?" she asked indignantly.

I giggled. "It gets in the way". We grabbed our book bags and hurried out the door. Hinata and Tenten weren't ready yet so we waited for them outside in the hallway. Ino continued to reprimand me on not wearing my hair down until the girls emerged from their room.

"Ino", Tenten scolded. "No telling off Saki". She sported a white tank with a black motorcycle jacket, black skinny jeans and converse and her hair was in two buns.

Ino pouted. "I was just telling her that she would look better if she put her hair down", she said indignantly. "You've got the looks girl, flaunt them! Boys will be at your feet in no time".

"Well, not all of us wants attract boys, now do we Tenten?" I said, slinging my arm over Tenten's shoulder, wanting to infuriate Ino further.

"Hear, hear", Tenten cheekily agreed.

"You two so deserve each other", Ino said huffily.

"G-guys, please d-don't fight", Hinata, the peacemaker, emerged from the room, pleading.

"Now look what you did Ino", Tenten mock chastised Ino. "You've made the snow maiden upset".

Now that she mentioned it, Hinata really did look like a regular snow maiden with her pale complexion and beautiful dark hair and fragile nature. Even the way she was dressed, in pale, calming colors, made her look like a snow maiden. "If Hinata's the gentle snow maiden, what does that make me?" I pondered out loud, distracting Ino and Tenten from their little bickering session.

"That's easy. You're Saki, the cute cherry blossom", Tenten said with a smile.

"Ha!" I exclaimed. "Wait till you see me on a bad day", I said. These girls didn't know how scary I could get.

"Ooh. Kitty's got claws", Ino teased and Hinata giggled.

"Rawr!" I growled playfully at Tenten, swiping my fingers in front of her face like claws.

"Oi, aren't we going to class?" Tenten intoned suddenly.

"Ah! We're going to be late!" Ino shrieked and dragged all three of us out the dorm and into yet another hallway. This one was filled with students going to classes. We struggled a bit amidst the waves of kids, trying to get to the Math class but somehow, got separated. Not good on a first day. Not good at all.

"Ino, Tenten, Hinata, where are-".

Suddenly, someone from behind knocked into me and I ran face first into a something, a something that was extremely hard.

"Ow", I whined and rubbed my nose. "Watch where you're going", a deep velvety voice said in annoyance.

"Huh?" I glanced up to see that I had knocked into someone, not something. "Oh shit, I'm sorry. Someone pushed me from behind and-", my voice broke when I looked into the guys face.

The guy looked a lot like the one I had seen yesterday, the one with the dark hair and eyes. He had the Konoha badge on his wrist too. So he was in my house, huh.

"You're... from before..." I stuttered, which was highly unlikely of me.

His dark eyes narrowed. "I don't know what you're talking about now get out of the way", he said irritably and shoved me out of the way. Granted, it didn't hurt, but still.

"What an asshole", I muttered as he walked past. I guess looks weren't enough.

"Oi Sasuke! That's no way to treat a girl!" a loud voice erupted from behind me and I turned to see a guy with spiky blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. He had whisker marks on his cheeks and he was glaring at the back of that cranky guy's shirt. He seemed to be in Konoha too. God, why is everyone I meet today in my house?

"Shut up dobe", Sasuke said simply and stalked off somewhere. So this was Sasuke. He definitely wasn't the guy I had seen from before, though their personalities matched pretty well. I didn't get that spark of recognition I got from the other guy.

"That idiot", the dobe growled. "Hey, are you okay?" it took a while to notice that he was talking to me. "Yeah. Thanks", I grinned.

"That ass didn't hurt you did he?" he asked concernedly, his friendly blue eyes looking over me for injuries.

"No. What's his problem anyway?" I asked, dusting myself. The crowd of kids had dissipated and only a few were remaining. My gang wasn't among any of them.

"His problem is that he has a stick up his ass so large that it would probably show if he opened his mouth to speak properly once in a while", he said and I laughed. I liked this guy.

"By the way, I'm Uzumaki Naruto" he introduced himself with a wide grin. "So you're Naruto! Does that mean you're that Sasuke guy's best friend?" I asked in astonishment. How could someone this nice hang out with a guy like Sasuke?

"Unfortunately, yeah. But he's not so bad, just cranky most of the time", Naruto shrugged. "And you must be...?" he trailed off expectantly.

"Oh yeah, sorry. I'm Haruno Sakura.", I said with a grin. Yes, I finally remembered to say 'Haruno'. Shocker.

"Haruno Sakura huh? I've never heard of you. You must be new here", he ponders.

"Yep. Still a freshie".

"You seem to be well informed for a new kid though", Naruto asked questioningly.

"Ah. Well, Ino saw to that soon enough", I explained. For a second, a light bulb seemed to light up over Naruto's head.

"You're Ino's friend? She told me that one of the new students got lost, didn't realize it was you".

"Oh crap", I said, suddenly remembering that I was late for class. "I'm late for Kakashi's class", I whined.

"No worries. I'm in Kakashi-sensei's class too. Come on, I'll take you there", Naruto said.

Sensei huh? From my severe addiction to animes, I knew that meant teacher. I so have to learn Japanese.

"Here we are!" Naruto exclaimed cheerfully, breaking me out of my thoughts as he lead me into a medium sized classroom.

The kids were messing around, some talking and others laughing. A few boys were sending paper planes all over the room. All in all, it was a normal looking class.

"Oh Sakura, you made it!" Ino waved at me from the second row, Hinata and Tenten beside her.

"Hey guys", I grinned. Looked like Kakashi wasn't here yet. After thanking Naruto, I headed to where Ino and the rest were sitting and plopped down on an empty corner seat.

Naruto sat directly behind me and I turned around to notice the wintry features of Sasuke-the-bastard sitting next to him, his fingers crossed over his nose, glaring into empty space. The gas particles in the air were probably offending him or something.

"Oh, Sakura, you wanted to meet Sasuke-kun right?" Ino asked me.

"Ha, no thanks Ino, we already met", I said stonily. Somehow, even though they looked freakishly alike, I didn't think that Sasuke-the-bastard was the guy I had seen earlier. Sasuke seemed capable of pulling off a scowl like the one he'd given me but there was something different about the two of them.

"You met?" Tenten asked from beside Ino.

"Yep", I responded. "I was charmed to say the least", I said, my voice laced with sarcasm, making sure I was loud enough for him to hear.

Sasuke's glare deepened. He opened his mouth to say something and I think I saw the stick Naruto was talking about but before he could say anything, the door opened and Kakashi walked in lazily. The students stopped playing fool and all eyes turned to him.

"Kakashi sensei, you're late!" Naruto yelled obnoxiously.

"Sorry, sorry, you see I was pondering upon the meaning of life and-", He was cut off by Naruto yelling "liar".

The class sighed as if this was a normal occurrence.

"You just need an excuse to read that perverted book of yours", Naruto huffed. He looked pretty cute and childish and I noticed Hinata staring at him with a blush on her face. Looked like Naruto had an admirer. More importantly, it looked like our Math teacher and house master was a pervert.

"Sensei, I didn't know you were a closet pervert", I said, pretending to be scandalized, enjoying Kakashi's reaction.

"W-Well, you s-see, that-I", he trailed off absently. A bead of sweat ran down his forehead.

The kids laughed out loud and even Sasuke had a small smirk on his face. Looks like I was wrong about him not being able to produce agreeable facial expressions but still, there was something familiar about him and the mystery guy but I just couldn't put my finger on it.

Kakashi cleared his throat and said, "Turn to page five on your textbooks everyone", with a hint of embarrassment and class went on.

"Hey everyone", Ino called from next to me over the din of the cafeteria. "This is Sakura", she said with a grin. "Sakura, this is the Konoha gang".

The people sitting at the table in the far corner of the cafeteria glanced at me. I recognized Naruto, Sasuke, Tenten and Hinata but the others I didn't know.

"Um, hey", I said with a somewhat sheepish smile. I was a tad awkward around new people and it was a bit surprising that I had already managed to make some friends. But then again, maybe it wasn't so surprising since Naruto, Ino and the rest were so easy to get along with.

"Hey, I'm Inuzuka Kiba", a cute, athletic guy with spiky brown hair and hazel eyes introduced himself with a grin. Something poked its head out from under his hoodie and I realized with a start that it was a puppy and a cute one at that. It whimpered at me softly. "And this is Akamaru".

"He's cute", I said with a smile.

The puppy barked softly, jumped out of his spot in Kiba's hoodie, and latched itself onto me, licking my face. I giggled. "T-That tickles", I said from in between laughs.

Kiba grinned in amusement and took Akamaru back. "I think he likes you".

"I didn't know the school allowed animals", I pondered out loud and took the empty seat next to Kiba, stroking the top of Akamaru's head.

"Tsunade made an exception for Kiba since she used to teach his sister and has a soft spot for her, and besides, Akamaru's so cute and well behaved that even Tsunade's stone heart would melt at the sight of him", Ino explained, making cooing noises at Akamaru, who cocked his ears amusingly.

"Sakura-san, it's good to meet you!" another boy with disturbingly large tennis ball eyes and even larger eyebrows said to me in enthusiasm, cutting short my examination of Akamaru.

"Uh, it's uh, good to meet you too…" I trailed off. The guy was certainly unique.

"That's Lee, Sakura-chan", Naruto introduced. Lee kept staring at me weirdly. What was his problem?

"Ignore him", Ino whispered from next to me. "He's harmless really".

Not really convinced, I tried to ignore those creepy tennis ball eyes and turned my attention to the guy sitting next to creepy-eyebrows Lee. He was good-looking, with longish brown hair and pale eyes like Hinata and he looked really serious and stuff. Probably had a stick up his ass like Sasuke. Why is it always the good-looking guys that were jerks?

"And this bucket of sunshine here is Neji, Hinata's cousin", Tenten said with a grin, slinging an arm over Neji's shoulder cheerfully. The guy glared at her in annoyance but Tenten seemed not to notice him either she ignored him. Bold girl, that. Or extremely stupid for that matter.

Anyway, Neji somehow persuaded Tenten to get off of him and I turned my attention to the last three remainders of the group. One was a chubby kid who was downing a packet of chips. He noticed me and grinned friendlily, introducing himself as 'Akimichi Chouji'. He looked relatively normal. Another was one with spiky hair in a ponytail who looked like he was Kakashi's brother or something with what the lazy demeanor and the last one was just weird.

He had short spiky hair and wore a high collared shirt and dark shades. All in all, he looked like a badly disguised spy.

Turned out that spiky ponytail kid's name was Shikamaru and he was actually a genius with an IQ over two hundred despite the lazy demeanor and that spy guy was Shino, a bug lover (!).

Was it just me, or was nearly everyone in this school weird, with the exceptions of the girls, Naruto, Kiba and possibly Chouji?

Oh well, they were nice and that's what really mattered.

Sasuke, I couldn't say much for considering the whole 'watch where you're going' thing earlier but Lee seemed okay, just a bit overwhelming at first and it wasn't like Shino had done something to me or whatever. And who was I to judge them anyway, since I'd only just met them. Who knows, Sasuke was probably a nice guy underneath the whole ice man exterior. Maybe.

Not.

After having breakfast, the third years, namely the girls, Naruto, Kiba, Sasuke and I dumped our trays in the trash cans and made way to exit the cafeteria. I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going, instead admiring the cleanliness of the cafeteria, as dorky as that was, and suddenly bumped into someone for the second time that day. Thankfully, this little run-in didn't leave me on the floor, which would have been a major embarrassment.

Instead, I just staggered back a bit and quickly regained my footing, ready to apologize to whoever I had almost run over. I really seemed to have a major klutz syndrome since I kept bumping into people.

"Sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going", I started, expecting a response similar to Sasuke's, but trailed off when I had a good look at the person face's.

It was him. The guy from the courtyard, the Sasuke look-alike with the dark hair and eyes and the scowl. He did look a lot like Sasuke except that his hair was black and long whereas Sasuke's was midnight blue and spiked up and he had tear troughs under his eyes, making him look older than he was, which was probably around twenty or something. He was wearing a black hoodie with a red cloud, meaning that he was in Akatsuki. That damn spark hit me again. I didn't know this guy, I was sure of it, but there was something familiar about him…

"You're that guy from yesterday", I accused.

He scowled at me. Oh, he was definitely the guy from yesterday.

"I believe you are mistaken", the resemblance to Sasuke was uncanny, even his voice. What the hell was this guy playing at? Yesterday, he had scowled at me and now he had the audacity to act like he had never even seen me? He must be Sasuke's brother or something, the two so deserved each other.

"I must have gotten the wrong person", I said stonily and walk over to the door of the cafeteria, where the girls were waiting for me, Naruto, Kiba and Sasuke long gone.

The girls looked at me worriedly.

"What just happened there Sakura?" Ino asked me.

"Nothing. Just another jerk", I said. "That's the guy I was talking about yesterday", I explained and the girls looked thoughtful. I didn't tell them that he was a little familiar to me.

"Who did he think he was anyway?" I asked.

"Uchiha Itachi of the Akatsuki, if you are wondering", I jumped as the guy's velvety voice reached my ears. I turned around but he was already walking out the hallway, hands in pockets and students were scurrying out of his way, like he was some sort of royalty.

I turned back to the girls who looked just as baffled as I was. What exactly was that Itachi guy's deal? First pretending that he didn't even know me and then he goes whispering his name in my ear when I hadn't even asked for it. Psycho.

"Is that guy a complete weirdo or what?" I asked Ino but the girl seemed to be preoccupied with something else.

"What?" I asked, puzzled.

"Sakura, do you know who that was?" Ino asked me.

"Uchiha Itachi of Akatsuki, he just said so himself", I said. What was up with Ino all of a sudden?

"Yeah, Saks. _Uchiha_ _Itachi_ of _Akatsuki_. He just _talked_ to you", Ino continued in a dazed tone while Hinata looked amused and Tenten shook her head.

"Yes, I'm well aware that he spoke to me Ino. Speaking, is how people _communicate _with each other", I rolled my eyes. And here I thought the phrase dumb blonde was just a fad.

"What she's trying to say, Saki, is that the most popular and hottest guy in school talked to you", Tenten explained in a bored tone.

Huh. So that was the problem. Seriously. I gave Tenten a look and she just shrugged as if to say 'well, what can you do?'

"Yes, that's exactly what I mean Tenten. Uchiha Itachi, the hottest and crankiest guy in the whole school, probably the world, just talked to Sakura", Ino said, frowning at Tenten.

"Come on Ino, I don't get what the big deal is. He just spoke like six words to me", I said, shrugging. We were now heading in the direction of the gym.

"In actuality, he spoke fourteen words Sakura, and it is a big deal because Uchiha Itachi never speaks to anyone except his group of freaky Akatsuki friends and his brother Sasuke", Ino explained.

Ah. So he was Sasuke's brother. Unsurprising, considering the lack of human emotions they both so obviously shared.

"I knew it", I said with a chuckle.

"And what exactly was the deal with Itachi being the most antisocial guy in the school? I thought that title went to Sasuke", I continued as we reached the gym.

"Nah. Itachi wins by far. Sasuke's more like the Emo Prince while Itachi is the reigning Emo King", Tenten said and I let out a laugh. I could so imagine the two of them together in a castle, Itachi sitting on the high throne, face somber and legs crossed at the ankles while Sasuke sat on the considerably smaller throne next to him, not too happy about being just the Prince.

I related this to the others and they too let out giggles but we stopped chatting when we reached the gym because something told us Sasuke would definitely not take kindly to be addressed as the Emo Prince.

The gym was as high class as the rest of the school. Sometimes I wonder how my parents even got me into this place; it was so out of their price range. Maybe they had connections or something.

Anyway, we changed into the P.E. shirt and shorts and waited for the coach, who surprisingly, considering how long we had taken to get to the gym, still hadn't arrived.

Bored, we all sat down on the bleachers and began to chat. Tenten and I were in the middle of a heated discussion on the latest episode of Bleach, when suddenly, an ear-splitting whistle rang out and a woman wearing an entirely too revealing mesh outfit and coat barged into the gym.

We all got off the bleachers and arranged ourselves in lines in the shiny gym floor.

"Is this the gym teacher?" I asked Hinata incredulously, who nodded, looking positively horrified.

I was about to ask what was wrong when the weird-ass coach blew her stupid whistle again, making my ears ring.

"Alright you maggots, get in line!" her voice was gritty and tough, but leaving those for later, was she insane or something? How were you supposed to do anything in gym wearing that stupid mesh outfit? And she looked absurdly mean too. Tenten looked ticked off and Ino and Hinata looked just about ready to cry, Naruto and Kiba were trying and failing to put on brave faces and even Sasuke's eyebrows were twitching. That could not be a good sign.

"Alright, boys on one side, girls on the other", the coach ordered and we reluctantly complied. What on earth was she going to do?

"Two hundred pushups each!" the coach bellowed and my eyebrow twitched. Was this woman out of her frigging mind? That is, if she had a brain in the first place.

I didn't do a thing and just stood there. There was no way in hell I was going to do two hundred freaking pushups! I couldn't even do twenty without collapsing.

I stood my ground as the coach approached me, ignoring the girls who told me to get on with it. Naruto was egging me on under his breath, urging me to 'show that crazy bitch'. He shut up immediately as the coach came within hearing range.

She raised an eyebrow and brought her face close to mine and her dark spiky hair was on my face. I stared into her eyes, determined not to break under the pressure. Teachers hated kids who didn't break. Fortunately, years of practice made sure that the intimidation tactic didn't work on me.

"Well, well, Haruno, not feeling very energetic, I see", she said, peering in even closer. I jerked my head back. Crazy woman.

"Three hundred pushups", she said and I scowled.

"Three hundred or a detention", she said and I didn't budge. I was a person who had faced a _lot_ of detentions before and they didn't faze me anymore. I stood my ground without giving an inch.

"Alright, Haruno. You just earned yourself a detention on your first day. That's going to go on your personal record", she growled and then gestured for a kid to come to her. I watched, bored, as the coach told the kid to get the student council president or someone. The kid skipped out the gym, happy to get out of pushups.

A while later, the kid came back with someone behind him. The ass-coach told me something but I didn't take note of it. I was busy staring at the entrance of the gym, where Itachi stood, his dark eyes amused. He didn't seem much like an Emo kid then. Don't tell me he was the student council president? Just great.

I glared at both him and this stupid coach.

I shot him a look that simply said 'what the hell are you doing here?' as the coach walked over to him, a satisfied grin on her face.

Itachi simply shot me a smirk as he and the coach conversed in low tones. Ino, in the middle of her pushups, asked me what the hell I was doing and to just get on with it and do what the coach said but I ignored her and watched the two ass-hats talk, a scowl on my face.

"Haruno! Get over here!" the coach barked and I walked grudgingly over to where he and Itachi were, my glare intensifying with each step I took.

"You will be escorted by Itachi-kun to your detention. Be here the exact moment class ends", she barked at me. Resisting the urge to plant my foot in her face, I gave a non committal grunt. She dismissed Itachi, who walked off, but not before smirking at me. Arrogant git. He was so not the antisocial emo kid the girls had made him out to be.

The coach turned to me, looking displeased. Knowing full well it was disrespectful; I raised an eyebrow at her. Her nostrils flared.

"Since you seem so insistent on not doing your pushups, just go and sit on the bleachers until class ends", she growled and I walked to the bleachers, happy about not having to perform any pushups.

If I had been at my old school, the teachers would have punished me at once. This school was soft. Ah well, it was cool since it meant that I didn't have to do anything till class ended.

With that, I leant back against my seat and let out a long, content sigh. Might as well get comfortable when I could. Except that I had detention after school with that prick Itachi, life, so far, was good.

* * *

Well, there it is! I really hope you enjoyed it. Bear with me about the 'Jap boarding school in Seattle'; it's just one of my crazy things ;) And review please, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Love,

Alistair.


	2. Settling In

Hey, everyone! This is the second chapter of My so-called life. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! Hope you like this one as well :)

Disclaimer: So do not own Naruto.

**Chapter 02**

After my classes were done, I said goodbye to the girls and headed on over to the gym, where the idiot coach had told me to be and sure enough, prick Uchiha was there waiting for me when I arrived, leaning against the walls of the gym as if he was some kind of cool guy, which he _so_ wasn't. Well, in my opinion anyway. I'm sure Ino and the rest of his fan girls would beg to differ.

"Alright Uchiha, here I am. What am I supposed to do?" I asked, getting straight to the point, not wanting to waste any more time than I absolutely had to. It wasn't like I didn't have better things to do than hang around with I'm-such-a-bloody-emo-guy Uchiha.

One of his inky brows hitched up beneath his dark hair and he ran a hand through his bangs. The action made a very unwanted shiver run up my spine. It seemed so familiar and yet different. It was unnerving.

"I would appreciate it if you could tone down the attitude", he said and my nervousness faded away, giving into anger. Who the hell did he think he was, the President? Well, he was the student council president but that aside, he acted like he owned the world. Self-righteous prick.

"Tone down _my_ attitude?" I asked incredulously. "Tone down _your_ attitude. Stop acting like you're the freaking king of the world and just tell me what I have to do so I can get out of your face and do us both a favor", I barely managed from spitting it out at him.

He scowled at me, the same scowl that he had worn yesterday and abruptly thrust a bundle of blank sheets of paper onto my hands. Weirdly, the scowl seemed not to suit him that much, now that I had a closer look.

"Take those to Orochimaru", he said and stalked off somewhere.

"W-Wait", I sputtered. Itachi stopped in his tracks and looked over his shoulder, brow raised expectantly. Another shiver ran up my spine.

"Who the hell is Orochimaru and where am I supposed to find him?" I asked, trying not to sound unnerved and I could have sworn Itachi smirked before continuing on his way again. I hate to say this but his smirk was kinda cute. It made him look shrewd and dangerous.

"Hey!" I shouted after him. "That crazy woman told me you would be accompanying me to detention", I said indignantly.

"I don't even know where to find this guy!"

I'm sorry (for myself) to say that he didn't even turn around this time. Instead, just he raised his hand in a sort of backwards wave, like cool guys did in mangas, except that there was nothing cool about Uchiha Itachi. He was just an absolute jerk.

Except for his undeniably cute smirk of course. Did I just think that? Silly me.

"You're clever Haruno, figure it out yourself", was the last thing he said to me before disappearing down a hallway, leaving me with this stupid bundle of papers in the middle of a school I didn't even know how to navigate. And how'd he know I was clever?

"Jerk!" I yelled after him even though he probably didn't hear me. Well, it was the effort that counted.

And now to walk around this place searching for some guy called Orochimaru just to hand him a blank stack of papers. Yeah, way to end my first day.

Good job Haruno, Good job.

I fumed, somehow managing to drag my legs -which by the way, felt like lead- up the stairs leading to the leaf common room. When I finally reached it, I was just about ready to cry sweet relief and jump on one of those inviting plush leather couches (again, how had my parents managed to afford this place?) and go to sleep without even taking a shower; that's how tired I was.

Why? Because after that ass Itachi had literally abandoned me at the gym, I had to walk around for like hours since this stupid school was so large, searching for this Orochimaru guy and asking anyone I met if they knew where he was. Unfortunately for me, they had been only a few people out on the corridors (because obviously, the kids were in class) and they had all given me different directions and me, being the incredible klutz I was, jumbled them all up and ended up walking in circles all over the school.

Anyway, I finally, with the help of a really nice teacher named Iruka who insisted on accompanying me, found Orochimaru, only to find out that he was the creep I had detested the day before. You know, the one who had stared at the kids like we were some kind of appetizer? Yeah, turns out it was him and he was even creepier up close. I handed him the papers, telling him that Itachi had wanted me to give them to him and he actually licked his lips at the name 'Itachi'! Could you say pedophile? Gross.

And then, I had to sit there for ages, helping him write some crap about school guidelines and such on those papers (and why couldn't he just get one printed and photocopy it?) and then, believe it or not, he actually told me to get out there and distribute them to the kids. Seriously, there must be like something wrong with the people in this place. First the pushup thing and then I had to deliver a few hundred stupid leaflets to kids, who of course, would just throw them into the trash without even reading them or make paper planes out of them.

Thankfully, I found Lee and despite the initial freaky appearance, he was actually a really nice guy and he helped me distribute about half of the flyers after which he had to go and run an errand. Then, I had to walk all over the school and give out those stupid flyers and I did. No, really I did.

Oh, all right. Maybe I dumped some (a lot) of them into a trash can when no one was looking but come on, I gave out more than a half of them at least. That had to count for something.

At any rate, that's how my legs ended up cramping and how I now found myself lounging in one of the couches in the leaf common room, angry at both Itachi and my poor legs.

I wish Ino and the girls were here so I could start on a much deserved episode of playing invalid. They would probably sympathize with my current situation.

"Saks, is that you?" Ino's voice rang out. Oh, sweet luck.

I sat up on the couch to see my new friend walking over to me, followed by Sasuke and Naruto.

"So, what happened in detention?" Ino asked, sitting down next to me.

"Nothing, except that ass made me walk all over school and now my legs hurt like hell", I said.

"What ass?" Ino and Naruto asked simultaneously, the latter now taking an interest in the conversation. I glared over at Sasuke, who was busy clearing his homework up from a desk, as if he somehow was the cause of my anger. Then again, it was related to him.

He caught my eye and raised a dark eyebrow, reminding me so much of his brother that I wanted to pummel him.

"His _dear_ brother", I hissed, inclining my head towards Sasuke.

Naruto and Ino just looked at each other in slight disbelief and to my surprise, Sasuke actually let out something between a snort and a chuckle. A snuckle? Anyway, the mere fact that he was amused was enough to make me even angrier.

"What are you snuckling- er, snorting about? Is there anything you find particularly funny about this situation?" I asked with narrowed eyes.

He quickly altered his face into its usual brooding expression and replied with a blasé, "nothing, nothing at all" and gathered his books into his arms before disappearing up the stairway leading into the boys' dorms, but there was something about the new spring in his step that made me think that he had been lying.

I growled at his retreating back. Him and his brother, they were both the same. Damn pricks.

The two blondes in the room looked suspiciously like they were trying to hold in their laughter and I glared at them. The action actually made them laugh.

Oh how wrong had I been in the assumption that these people would coddle me like the invalid I was.

These were evil, evil people and God help me if I survived the rest of the month with them, let alone my entire education.

Despite my claims of my new friends being 'evil' –which really was melodramatic of me- we got along well and the last few days passed in an okay manner, with me going to classes as usual and complaining about the teachers and hanging out with the girls and occasionally Naruto and Kiba. And the best thing being that I hadn't caught so much as a glimpse of Itachi, thought Sasuke was still around, which was unavoidable really, considering that we shared a common house and all, but he kept his distance and I kept mine.

Anyway, today was Saturday, which meant –awesome- weekend. Being in a boisterous mood, I put on my favorite pair of frayed dark skinny jeans, a combination of a pinkish gray tank with the word 'art' in bold jokerman font and a biker's jacket along with baby pink converse high tops. The red house badge was tied onto my arm as per the usual. The morning was a bit chilly so I settled for a grey scarf.

Drawing across the curtain to see Ino looking amazing as usual, I snatched my hair brush and quickly put my hair up in a hasty bun, stray strands framing my face.

"Come on Ino, let's go!" I cried, grabbing both Ino's arm and my messenger bag and bolted across the room, breezing past Hinata and Tenten who had just emerged from their room.

"Whoa, someone's excited", I heard Tenten comment amusedly as she and Hinata followed us at a calmer pace.

Yeah, you could say I was excited. It wasn't just the fact that today was the weekend that had me in such a good mood. Nope, it was the fact that I had a club to join. An arts club to be exact, where you had like, all sorts of different stuff to do like art and creative writing, both stuff that I loved. It had been a stroke of luck that I had seen the notice urging kids to sign up yesterday on the notice board in the main hall of the school. There was also a notice for a music club, but despite how much I loved music, I couldn't sing that well or play an instrument so naturally, I had signed up for the arts club immediately but the girls couldn't since Ino was on the staff for the school newspaper, Hinata was in the calligraphy club and Tenten was on the soccer team. Apparently, you could only take up one extracurricular, so they couldn't join the same club as me, sadly.

They accompanied me to the room where the club was supposed to meet and then departed to go to their own clubs after wishing me luck.

Taking a deep breath in through the nose, I pushed upon the translucent glass door and walked in.

The club room was really nice; a large room with many windows letting in plenty of sunshine and with cozy looking chaise lounges, writing desks and bean bag chairs strewn haphazardly here and there with large cupboards in the back and the ceiling was open all the way up to the pitched roof. A good many students were already there, some painting on large easels, some reading or writing on the bean bag chairs or desks and another group nearby listening attentively to some person who looked like he was giving a lecture with his back turned to me. He seemed to have a presence, judging by the rapt faces in front of him, so I walked over to him and tapped him on the shoulder, wanting to ask about what I should do since it was my first day here and all.

The words died in my mouth as he turned around to face me, a very familiar scowl on his face at being interrupted. The scowl turned into an inquisitive look as he caught sight of me and raised a brow in expectation. Damn familiar brow-raising idiot.

"Strange seeing you here", Itachi said in his soft voice with something akin to curiosity.

Oh God, you have got to be kidding me. All that happiness about not seeing Itachi for the past few days flew out the window. Why did he have to be here? Why, why, why?

"And why is that?" I asked, barely recognizing my own voice courtesy of how cold it sounded. Why was it such a surprise that I was here? Did it look like I was a person who didn't enjoy the arts? Hell, I had the word stamped across my frigging T shirt, so was this dude blind or something?

I glared at him, crossing my arms over my chest as he mused for an answer.

Finally, he replied. "Just didn't think of you as a person who had an interest in the arts".

My grip on my forearms tightened involuntarily. Who did this bastard think he was, implying that I had no interest in the arts?

"Well, you are mistaken", I gritted out, glowering at him. The kids that were listening to him now looked back and forth between us, probably wondering what all the tension was about.

"And for your information, you don't look much like a guy who likes the arts either", I continued and Itachi's cloudy eyes narrowed. Good, I had struck a nerve.

The two of us had a stare down, each unwilling to look away, unwilling to be declared the loser. I felt my eyes sting after a while but I refused to shut them. I was so not going to go down to him.

We stood that way for a while, the kids now looking extremely uncomfortable. I could feel a tear drop onto my cheek and I quickly wiped it away but weirdly, I thought I saw Itachi's eyes soften for a bit but then immediately regained their steeliness. Must have been a trick of the light then.

My eyes started to water again and even Itachi's eyes were twitching. I was about to blink when suddenly, someone cleared their throat from behind me. I kept my composure but Itachi blinked, his dark eyes swimming with something like surprise.

"Ha, I win loser!" I cried childishly, enjoying the look of irritation that passed across Itachi's features. I laughed at his annoyance and his eyes darkened before focusing on something or someone behind me.

"Miss Haruno", a familiar husky spoke from behind me.

I turned around with burning cheeks to face the head honcho (your honcho-ness?) of my new school Tsunade, who had a stern expression on her face. I blinked, the tears falling over my cheeks and I quickly swiped them away.

"Uh, yes Tsunade… -sama?" I added at the last moment, mentally thanking the animes I watched.

"Follow me to my office, please", she said and my eyes widened. From my peripheral vision, I could see that Itachi's eyes, heavy with something that looked strangely like suspicion, were narrowed at Tsunade. What was his deal?

More importantly, why was I being called to the Head Mistress' office, moreover by the Head Mistress herself, when I had done absolutely nothing wrong? Except maybe an unwise (but kick ass) show of snark against a teacher and possible disobedience of another teacher (the flyer thing).

But was that really major stuff? I doubt it.

"Am I in some sort of trouble?" I asked, my forehead furrowed in thought. Now the whole club was staring at us.

Tsunade gave no answer. Instead, she walked briskly over to the entrance of the club room and glanced back meaningfully at me. I blinked, still not getting it. Itachi nudged me surprisingly gently and gave me a particularly helpful piece of advice.

"She wants you to follow her", his voice was dry, but still had that velvety tone to it.

"Y-Yeah, I knew that", I lied poorly and hurried towards Tsunade, who was already out the door.

I don't know what made me do it, but I glanced back at the clubroom. Itachi's intense gaze was not on me but on Tsunade. With a jolt, I saw that he was actually frowning at her accusingly. And then his gaze flickered to me and the frown dissipated somewhat and his eyed softened once more. That warm feeling of familiarity enveloped me once again. Startled, I realized that there was worry in his gaze. He was worried… for me?

And then, quick as it had come, it was gone and he turned back to the kids and resumed his lecture. I had probably imagined it this time too. Seriously, eyes softening? I read _way_ too many romance novels.

"Well? I haven't got all day", Tsunade said and I closed the door and followed her, wondering why I was being taken to her office.

We walked for quite a while before she paused at one of those old fashioned, oak paneled doors adorned with a plaque reading 'Head Mistress'.

She opened the door and gestured for me to walk in. I obeyed.

The room was fairly large with hardwood floors and creamy white walls. It was immaculately kept with comfortable looking furniture and not a speck of dust to see. I particularly liked the black leather couch. Classy.

There was even a fireplace at one side of the room. God, these people were rich.

Tsunade stood near a large, tidy desk with a state of the art computer, a stack of files and stationery of all kinds and other stuff. The wall behind her held framed certificates of all her accomplishments. All in all, the room was posh, comfortable but still had still had an air of intimidation.

Tsunade gestured at a chair in front of a desk. I personally wanted to remain standing but I acquiesced since I didn't want to face her wrath. Tsunade remained standing with her arms behind her back, making her chest appear even more prominent. Did I mention that in addition to the blonde hair, the gruff voice and demeanor, that my new Head Mistress had extremely large breasts? Well, she did and they were gigantic with a capital g. It was probably another point of intimidation. I bit my lip to hide a smile at the thought of a woman scaring someone with her boobs. I'd imagine that would work well. Not.

I sat down and piled by messenger bag onto my lap, conjecturing on what I was here for. Maybe Orochimaru found out that I had ditched the flyers in the trash and ratted out to Tsunade? Or maybe that crazy gym teacher had somehow tipped her off on my (completely valid, by the way) use of sarcasm?

"I assume you're wondering why you're here", Tsunade stated out the obvious and I nodded. Get to the point already.

"Are you adjusting well to school life here well?" she asked me and I felt my eyebrows raise though I quickly lowered them. She'd hauled me here just so she could discuss how I was fitting in? Since when did Principals even do that? I can't believe I missed my first day of club for this.

"Yeah, I guess", I replied with a little shrug. It was okay. I had good friends already, the school work wasn't that hard, except for math which I royally sucked at and I already had a rival, Itachi, sort of. Same old, same old.

"You guess?" Tsunade echoed, one of her blonde brow arched. "You haven't had any trouble with your roommate, I trust", she added before I had a chance to respond. Rhetorical question maybe.

"We're fine. Ino and I get along", I shrugged, opting for a typical, short and teenager-y response.

"How are you getting along academically?" she continued quizzing me. This was weird. She wanted to see how I was doing, personally. Since when did school principals make it a point to evaluate a student's progress personally?

"School work is fine", I replied brusquely.

After a few moments of questions, which I answered shortly, Tsunade seemed to have gotten tired of my terse answers.

"Alright then", she said in a definite manner. "I'm sure Hizagi and May would like to hear that their daughter is doing well", she said with a smile and my head whipped up and my eyes widened. Haruno Hizagi, that was my dad's name (and again, how in the hell had I not managed to guess that I was half Japanese?) and my mother was May Porter, she'd kept her maiden name after marrying dad and my Dad had been adopting it until recently, when they dropped the bomb about the race thing. Did Tsunade know my parents? Was that why they'd sent me here, so I could be in familiar hands?

"You know my parents?" I asked, now fully attentive.

Tsunade smiled knowingly. "Ah, that got your attention I see. Yes, I know your parents. We studied together", she answered. "I was the one who recommended that they should send you here when they moved. I understand that your father is pursuing his career here?"

I nodded dimly. My parents used to go to school with Tsunade. She probably has me here on reduced pay then, which explains how my parent could afford to send me here. And she knew about my dad's transfer. Dad was in the financial business and his office had been relocated here which is why we moved in the first place. She probably knew more about my parents than I did, which was not such a comforting thought.

Tsunade sent me another knowing smile. Suddenly, she didn't seem like the intimidating Head Mistress. She looked like a friendly aunt, which considering the fact that she was supposed to be my Head Mistress was a bit daunting. Probably sensing that I needed time to digest this, she clapped her hands together in a conclusive manner.

"Well, I suppose that you should be heading back to class", she said, reverting back into Head Mistress mode and I stood up.

"Enjoy your weekend", she said and with that, I was out of her office.

Well, this certainly was weird. So my parents were acquainted with Tsunade. And they hadn't told me. Awesome.

I glanced at my watch. It was ten in the morning. Somehow, I didn't want to go back to the club room so I settled on getting back to the common room.

When I arrived at the dorm, the girls were already there and Naruto and Sasuke were bickering about over a game of cards. Ino seemed really keyed up about something, Hinata too though Tenten didn't seem that psyched. I wonder what's going on here.

"Oh hey Saks", Ino called cheerfully as she caught sight of me. "Heard you got called to Tsunade's domain. What happened?"

"Nothing. Just wanted to know whether I was adjusting well", I said and both Tenten's and Ino's eyebrows rose.

My suspicions were proved by Tenten's next question.

"And since when does Tsunade take interest in how individual students are doing?" she asked Ino who said 'never'.

"Since she and their parents were school buds", I said wearily. Now everyone, even the guys from their game of cards, glanced at me with puzzled looks on their faces.

"It's a long story", I said with a sigh.

Ino grinned and pulled me up from the couch I was lounging on.

"Well, you're gonna have plenty of time to explain to us since we"- she gestured to both of us and Hinata and Tenten –"are going shopping".

* * *

To say I didn't like shopping would be an outright lie. I loved to shop though I was a thrift store kind of girl and not the expensive designer clothes kind. I liked to hunt around in interesting shops and grab what I thought looked awesome and was easy on the pocket. Some of my most favorite clothes came from thrift stores and most of them were vintage. Fortunately, some of the storeowners in Chicago hadn't known that so I could snag them at low prices. Sometimes, I wasn't so lucky and had to spend months of hard earned money on an amazing dress or a sweet jacket.

Ino was the exact opposite. She shopped in designer clothing stores and whipped out her credit card without even so much as a glance at the price tag. I had forgotten that she was rich. Hinata was rich too but she wasn't as compulsive a shopper as Ino. Tenten didn't like shopping at all. She had only come to buy some new sporting gear and video games.

The part of town we had walked into was pretty and not far off from the school. Sure it had high-rise buildings and stuff but there were lots of trees and such and all kinds of shops with shady awnings and some pretty awesome stuff.

It was still a bit chilly so I was glad I'd worn my jacket and scarf. Ino lead us into a town square of sorts, with all sorts of cafés and restaurants lining the streets. Tenten, Hinata, Ino and I took seats in one of the tables outside the awnings of a café called 'Ray's Bistro'. A college age guy with shaggy auburn hair that reached his collarbone walked over to us, a friendly, lopsided grin on his face. The sun brought out his blue eyes, making them sparkle. He was tall and overall, very cute.

"Hey Gabe", Ino flashed him a smile. Gabe? Short for Gabriel maybe?

"Hey. Good to see you girls", he glanced at me and I offered him a grin. "A new addition to the team?" he questioned.

"Yep, Sakura. Nice to meet you", I said. He seemed friendly and Ino and the rest seemed to like him so I figured it wouldn't hurt to talk to the guy.

"Gabriel. Likewise", he said and produced a small notepad.

"What can I get you girls today?" he was talking to all of us but his eye was on me. Ino noticed this and winked subtly at me.

"Any suggestions?" I asked the girls.

"Blueberry muffins for me and Hinata", Tenten said and Gabe scribbled it down. He eyed me, another all-too-friendly grin on his face. "And for you?"

"Saks and I will have some of that gorgeous strawberry cheesecake with extra strawberries", Ino said and my mouth started to water. I loved cheesecake. In fact, I loved sweets in general.

"Ooh, ooh and a strawberry milkshake with extra whipped cream for me if you have those!" I added excitedly and Gabe laughed. "We happen to have the best in town", he said warmly.

"Make it four then", Ino smirked and Gabe disappeared after taking down our orders.

The smirking blonde turned to me. "He was _so_ into you", she pointed out. Tenten nodded her agreement and Hinata blushed.

I shrugged. "I guess he's cute and all but he's not my type".

Tenten perked up. "Then what is your type?" she asked me curiously. Wow, I didn't know Tenten had an ear for gossip. Ino and Hinata too peered at me, apparently interested in my choice of guys.

"He was cute, I won't deny that but he was too, you know, _nice_. Average", I answered.

Tenten raised a brown brow, a sly grin on her face. "So you like the dark and dangerous type? Didn't know you were a masochist Saki", she joked lightly and I rolled my eyes.

"Not necessarily dark, God no".

"L-Like Sasuke-san?" surprising all of us, Hinata spoke up. I blinked at her. Sasuke? Hell no!

"Of course not. The dude's too emo for his own good", I rolled my eyes. It would be like dating a vampire or something with him.

"Just a fun and dangerous guy with a hint of mystery, y'know", I said. That was my ideal type of guy but I've yet to find one.

"You read way too much romance novels Saki", Tenten chuckled and I pouted at her.

"And did I see _someone_ hanging around with Neji the day before?" I said with an arched brow, emphasizing the word 'someone'.

Tenten blushed, her cheeks flushed with a light pink. "Neji and I are just friends", she managed to dish out and Ino and I smirked at her.

"Keep telling yourself that", Ino said and then stopped talking when Gabe A.K.A Mr. Cutie returned with our food. On one arm he carried our plate of goodies and on the other, our drinks. He set the trays down on the table and left after telling us to enjoy our food, after flashing that cute lopsided grin of course.

I brushed my hands together excitedly. That cheesecake smelt damn good. Grabbing a knife and fork, I cut out a slice and took a bite, jolting when the cake reached my mouth.

"Oh my God, this is like a slice of heaven!" I exclaimed and the girls laughed.

"I told you so", Ino said, waving her fork.

After wolfing down cheesecake with no care for calories and slurping down our shakes, which I must say were frigging delicious, we paid for the meal, said bye to Gabe and resumed our shopping trip.

The shops here in this square weren't very large and high rise and compared to the load of bags of Ino's arms, I still hadn't bought anything even though my parents had provided me a credit card for 'emergencies' so I decided to do a little snooping. After all, I had art supplies to buy, much less clothes.

After agreeing to meet back at Ray's Bistro in about one hour, we went our separate ways. I pulled the hood of my jacket over my head as I walked around aimlessly for a while, trying to figure out which store to hit until I my eye caught an interesting looking store that apparently sold art supplies. It was small, but colorful with a brightly colored sign and curtains.

"Hmm… interesting", I muttered to myself and walked over to the chop, hands thrust deep into the pockets of my jacket. There, right in front of the shop, two sweet rides were parked. One was a huge, gleaming red and black beast of a motorcycle and the other was a muscle car, something that looked like a Mustang or an Impala.

After admiring them for a bit, I pushed open the door and a tinkling sound rang out. Wind chimes, I guessed, looking up where small crystal thingies were suspended over the door. I walked in and shut the door behind.

I glanced around. The shop was exactly how I liked them to be. It was small and all sorts of sweet supplies were stacked on shelf after shelf, just screaming for me to buy them. I walked deeper into the shop, which was pretty long although it didn't show on the outside and reached a shelf full of stacks of my favorite brand of watercolors. I grabbed a couple since I had forgotten to bring mine from home and continued exploring the store.

When I reached a shelf with piles of unusual notebooks, I noticed a guy that was leaning down and checking out a large box filled with what seemed to be clay. He was wearing an Akatsuki hoodie with the hood up so I didn't catch any of his features. What was a guy from Akatsuki looking at clay for?

"Hey", I said and he turned around to look at me, still leaning down. "What do you need clay for?" I asked, curiosity getting the best of me as usual. He turned to face me, his visible eye widened almost imperceptibly before it dissolved into a look of suspicion. His blue eye regarded me piercingly, the other covered by a long bang. He was the 'yakuza'.

"What's it to you, hmm?" he asked me guardedly, blue eye narrowing. His voice was surprisingly deep and had an electric tone to it compared to his feminine appearance and he had long blonde hair that was partially obscured by his hood.

"Jeez. Just asking a question here", I said, holding up my hands in front of my face. Were all of the people in Akatsuki jerks? And here I thought this guy was actually worth getting to know, considering how he'd grinned at me the first day.

"Oh, it's you, yeah", he said, seeming to recognize me and his eyes traveled to the Konoha badge on my arm and his demeanor changed at once. He grinned at me. He had a nice grin, sort of playful and dangerous at the same time. And did I mention he was hot?

"Sorry. Didn't know you were from the school, yeah", he said, popping a butt load of clay into a bag.

"So, you an artist, yeah?" he asked, eyeing the watercolors and cool sketchpads I had scored. I assumed that adding terms of agreement to the ends of his sentences was a habit. A dialect, maybe?

"Uh, yeah. Self-proclaimed", I grinned.

"Same here, yeah", he said. "Deidara", he introduced himself.

"Sakura", I said and he smirked. "That's a cute name".

"Thanks", I grinned. Wait till he saw my hair. He straightened up then, dusting his clothes. Another guy appeared then; carrying bags of what I thought were supplies. He was wearing the same Akatsuki hoodie and he was shorter than Deidara and had wavy Auburn hair and a serene face with soft mahogany eyes. He face sported a placid expression and he looked like one of those cool guys that just wouldn't get fazed no matter what happened. A face that I recognized all too well.

"Deidara, you all done?" he asked in a soft voice and then glanced at me, his eyes widening almost unnoticeably before returning to normal. "Yeah, hmm", Deidara said to the guy and then he turned back to me and must have been confused as to the look on my face because he raised his blonde eyebrows.

Ignoring him, I turned to the auburn haired guy.

"Sasori?" I questioned incredulously. What the hell was my cousin doing here? You see, Sasori is my cousin from my dad's side of the family (again, how on earth had I not known that I was half Japanese?) and he was supposed to be attending this ultra prestigious school. I never even guessed that the 'ultra prestigious school' was actually Naruto Boarding School and judging from the look on his face, he hadn't exactly expected me either.

"Sakura? Is that you?" he asked dubiously. I nodded and lowered the hood of my jacket for good measure as he asked me what I was doing here.

"Huh? Oh, I go to Naruto Boarding School too. So, I guess you're part of the Akatsuki too then?" I asked, still disbelieving of the fact that my cousin was actually here, much less part of the Akatsuki.

"Yeah. So your parents told you the truth I see?" he stated more than in that calm manner of his that I'd totally admired when I was a kid.

"You guessed it. I was an idiot to not realize it sooner", I laughed and then realized that Deidara had been silent for a while. I turned to him to find him looking totally flabbergasted.

"You're _that _Sakura?" he sputtered. "I should have known –_pink hair_- of _course_ it's her, yeah", he muttered much to my confusion. What was he talking about?

When I voiced by thoughts, he seemed to regain his composure. "Nothing, Sasori talks about you sometimes, hm", he said and I pouted at my cousin, wondering if he revealed any embarrassing stuff to Deidara. Sasori just looked at me innocently.

Noticing my scandalized expression, Deidara grinned. "Don't worry, he said nothing. _Much_. I'll see you later then, cherry. Maybe I'll catch you at the Arts club sometime, yeah", he said and Sasori nodded to me before both of them left and I heard the sound of a car and a motorcycle afterwards. To think that one of those sweet rides belonged to my cousin…

I stood there for a second, smiling at his choice of a nickname for me and then went back to shopping, checking out other cool art supplies.

Then I realized that Deidara had never actually told me what the clay was for.

* * *

The girls and I returned to school, tired and arms laden with bags. Even Tenten had a few bags on her arms, which she insisted were sporting gear and tech stuff. After I had purchased a few more sketchpads and pencils at the art supply store, I'd wondered into a thrift store and scored a two pairs of kick ass boots, a pair of fuzzy black ones and a pair of faded white and purple plaid patterned ones, both vintage and for a good price.

We mooned over our stash in the large couch in the common room for a while before we were called down for dinner. Unlike breakfast and lunch, where we could either eat at the cafeteria or school grounds or maybe even off-campus –though we weren't allowed to go that far-, dinner was in the Main Hall and the teachers had it with us.

Still in the same clothes, we entered the main hall, where the rest of the kids were sitting in four long rows placed vertically, with benches on either side of each row so that when we sit, we would face each other. There was a feast spread on each row and the teachers were seated at an elaborate table at the very front of the hall and from the ceilings hung the banners of each house and Akatsuki. It reminded me so much of Harry Potter that I had to stifle a giggle.

We sat with the rest of the Konoha kids at our table and dug in to mashed potatoes, chicken, and veggies for the vegans and even all sorts of cakes and stuff for people with sweet teeth like me. The hall was abuzz with chatter as we nibbled on cakes and sipped orange juice.

The table on our left was Sand's table and the one on the far left was Sound's table. All three of the tables were draped in their signature colors; Sound's in purple, Sand's in brown and our Leaf's in dark red. Akatsuki's table was on our right and it was considerably smaller and more lavishly decorated than the other three. Probably came with being the elite college students of the school.

I could clearly see the Akatsuki's table from my spot. A cloth, and an expensive looking one at that, was draped over it, black and red in color. Deidara caught my eye and winked at me broadly and I waved back. Ino noticed my gesture and smirked.

"Making friends already, huh Saks?" she smirked and I paused my observations to stick my tongue out at her before resuming taking in the Akatsuki.

My cousin of the wavy auburn hair and mahogany eyes was seated next to Deidara and they seemed to be arguing about something. If I strained my ears hard enough against the din, I could catch the words 'beauty' and 'art'. Seems like those two had nothing on their minds except for art.

Their little argument brought back to mind about the clay Deidara had bought from the supplies shop. What did he need it for? Maybe he was a sculptor or something? Either way, I guess it's not any of my business.

A few seats over from them, Tobi, A.K.A mask boy, was cowering in between two boys, both of whom looked muscular. One of them had striking silver hair that was slicked back and unique purple eyes and the other had this weird blue tint to his skin, which was probably some kind of body paint, and beady black eyes. They looked like they were terrorizing Tobi again.

Feeling pity for mask boy who was probably older than me, my eyes slid over to the rest of the group.

Occupying the seat next to purple eyes was an even freakier looking guy with green (!?) hair, a face that was black on one side and white on the other and golden eyes. Seriously? What was this school, a freak show? Weren't these guys supposed to be the 'elite' college students of the school? Was face and body paint even allowed here? Hell, was it allowed in _any_ school?

Shaking my head, I let my eyes slide over the remaining participant of their table.

Itachi was sitting a few seats over from Sasori; his head tilted slightly to the side and chin on one hand as he gazed intently into the screen of the laptop in front of him. On his other hand, he held an apple which he bit into every few minutes. Before I even had time to reflect on why exactly I was staring at him, his head jerked out of his hand and down the apple went onto the table as he started to furiously type on the laptop, a look so intense on his face that it made me blink.

I wonder what he's writing. Maybe he was staying true to his serious appearance and working on his homework or maybe he was writing a steamy yaoi novel starring himself and Orochimaru?

Snickering softly at the thought, I bit into my slice of cake, eyes still on Itachi.

It didn't take long for me to ponder on why he seemed so familiar to me. As much as I hated to admit it, he struck a chord in me that no one had ever had. It was also unnerving, to say the least, that I almost felt like I knew him and the subtle patterns in his behavior, like how he raised his dark eyebrows and how he sighed and ran his hands through his hair.

And another thing… Like a fragment of memory I had long since lost…

A picture of Itachi in my mind. An Itachi who was smiling softly, gently at me…

I dismissed the thought ridiculous as soon as it came to mind. It was utterly irrational since I had never even met Itachi before and he certainly was not capable of smiling, much less smiling gently at me.

We finished dinner a while and headed back to the leaf common room and Ino and I said bye to the rest of the group after we washed up and headed to our room.

As I crawled into coverlets and closed my eyes, the image of the smiling Itachi drifted in my mind until I fell asleep.

* * *

So, what are your thoughts about the chapter? Please let me know whether you liked it or not and if you can tell me ways in which I could improve, it will be much appreciated!

Question of the Day: How do you prefer the weather to be like :D?

I like it when it's cloudy, with a chance of rain. It's the best setting for me to be writing in.

Please review!

Love,

Alistair.


	3. Hints and Allegations

Oh my Jashin, I'm so so so sorry for the ungodly late update! I was really busy with school work and my other story and the exams are coming on so tension, tension, tension . Hope you can forgive me. Enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the songs though they're both awesome T_T Listen to She's coming down again, it's epic if you're into alternative rock.

Chapter 03

"Shit," I cursed out loud as I was hit with a momentary brain freeze by sitting up too quickly after just waking up. Shaking my groggy head, I roused Ino and we trudged out of the room with our toiletries to meet Hinata and Tenten at the bathroom, all of us complaining about having to wake up at an ungodly hour such as seven in the morning. Sunday had passed by in a blur and now it was Monday, the worst day of the week.

God, I feel like crap. And it was all Itachi's fault. Seriously. I didn't get a wink of sleep last night and the night before that with what that Itachi's smiling face floating around my mind. I had thought about it all the time yesterday, avoiding Itachi at all costs. I even had nightmares about it. Well, that's not true but still, it was very traumatic to see that prick smiling and even scarier was the fact that it _suited_ him and that I felt like I had actually seen it before, rather than it being another figment of my overactive imagination.

It didn't help that all through the time it took me to put on jeans, a Posies T-shirt and converse and pull up my hair into a bun, thoughts of him kept plaguing my mind, much to my absolute annoyance. In addition to my already irritating day, when were descending down the stairs leading to the Main Hall, Ino gasped at the dark circles underneath my eyes and comment on how beaten I looked. She was right. I looked horrible and it was all because of Uchiha Itachi and his stupid nonexistent smile.

So, it was understandable that when I reached the Main Hall with the girls, I practically jumped when I almost bumped into someone again. What was that, the third time already? Fortunately, I stopped myself before my nose had a particularly painful encounter with said person's chest. An apology on the tip of my tongue, I glanced upwards to see a serious looking face accompanied by dark reddish-brown hair like Sasori and piercing green eyes. He was rather tall and formidable looking and he was wearing a dark red jersey that accentuated his hair and Boss headphones were attached to his ears.

"Sorry about that," I apologized. The dude looked a lot like the house master I had seen on my first day.

He grunted offhandedly and stalked off to Sand's table, leaving me to huff. Were all the guys at school this jerks?

Speaking of jerks, as soon as we sat down, my eyes drifted to the cause of my awful appearance this morning. He was sitting at the Akatsuki table, calm as ever, munching on toast and sipping what looked like tea or something like that.

Grabbing my own breakfast from the laden dishes on the table, which consisted of bacon and egg sandwiches and orange juice, I glared at him. Why did he have to go and ruin my day by plaguing my mind with his stupid self? But wait, why'd I concern myself with him this much? I could just not think about him and ignore him but why did my mind always seem to drift to him? It was like I was a positive electron and he was a negative electron and whenever we were brought together, we attract towards each other. Yeah, it was ridiculous I know but it was the only think I could use to explain my relationship with Uchiha Itachi.

Sadly, before I had time to peel my eyes away from the 'negative electron', his dark eyes just had to meet with mine. I thought he would raise his eyebrows at me in that irritating manner of his or do something along those lines but he didn't. Instead he simply smirked and raised his hand in a lazy acknowledging wave.

It shames me to admit that I blushed at the sight of his smirk before I stuck my tongue out at him and refocused my attention on my food and popped my Pioneer headphones onto my ears. It was amazing the way that music could calm me no matter what the mood I was in. My jittery nerves were soothed immediately as the familiar tune of 'She's coming down again' by the Posies started to play.

Munching on my sandwiches absently, I listened to the sounds of my friends' conversations over the sound of my songs.

Hinata was looking particularly disturbed about something. She was so sweet it was hard not to feel sorry for her so I muted my song and joined in the conversation she, Ino and Tenten were having.

"- don't worry, you'll be fine. They're not monsters or anything," Ino was saying in a reassuring tone but Hinata still seemed to be frightened about something.

"What's wrong Hinata?" I asked gently, not wanting to upset the poor girl.

Tenten patted Hinata sympathetically on the shoulder.

"Unlike us, Hina has Advanced Bio with the college dudes," at my confused look, Ino hastened to explain.

"She's terrified of them, especially Hidan, the white haired guy that curses all the time," I nodded in understanding. But wait… from what Tsunade told me that day at the office, I had Advanced Bio on my schedule too. So did that mean I had it with the Akatsuki? With _Itachi_?

To be completely sure, I ransacked my pockets till I came across the schedule Tsunade had giving me and sure enough, I had Advanced at the college section of the campus.

Oh _fuck_ no. I could see Ino and the girls giving me weird looks with what how wide my eyes had gotten. I couldn't believe I had Bio with them! Well, at least now Hinata didn't have to deal with them alone and Sasori would probably be there and I could use him as a human shield if they tried something…

"I have Advanced Bio with them too," I sighed and Hinata brightened up while Tenten smirked and Ino had a glazed look in her eyes.

"Saks, you're so lucky! I wish I was smart enough to get in the same classes with them. Those dudes are HOT~" she drawled dreamily and I winced. What she didn't know was that one of those dudes was my cousin.

"Especially that red haired hottie," Ino kept on babbling and I felt my cheeks go red.

"Ino! That's my cousin you're talking about," I said indignantly and Ino sputtered.

"What?! Why the hell didn't you tell me that that hunk of hotness was your COUSIN?" Ino hissed and I scowled. "Because I knew you'd react like this and if you excuse us ladies, brekkie is up and me and Hina got a Bio class to go to" I said smoothly and ended up dragging Hinata out of the Main Hall and into the school grounds before Ino could say anything more. I didn't feel like I could handle her mooning about my cousin; how gross was that?

Then I realized that I actually didn't know _where_ the class was going to be held so I turned to Hinata, who was looking winded from the run.

"Hey Hina, do you know where the class is?"

The petite blue haired girl nodded timidly. She looked adorable in her powder blue sweater and black skirt with stockings and Mary Janes.

"Lead the way, then," I grinned and began to follow her until we reached a large red bricked building with ivy growing on the walls. It had large stained glass windows and an oak door in the front. It was really pretty, even better than the main building of the school. As we walked in, Hinata explained to me how both the dorms and the classes of Akatsuki were here in this building which was dubbed by the students who didn't have classes there as the 'unapproachable' section of school. Talk about dramatic.

I expected the inside of the building to be uptight and posh, but it was surprisingly comfortable looking. There was a hall as soon we entered and I learned that this hall was where the classes were held while the Akatsuki dorms were on the topmost floor. The hall was cozy looking, with mismatched chairs and desks. Now, microscopes were settled on top of each desk.

When we took our seats in the third row (Akatsuki were occupying the first two), there were only about a dozen people in the room. I noticed that Itachi, Tobi, Deidara and Sasori were here as well as the rest of the Akatsuki that I had seen but knew not of their names. All of them were minding their own business in their chairs, Sasori sitting in a chair fiddling with his microscope, Deidara and Tobi sprawled inelegantly on their chairs and Itachi was actually listening to music.

"I thought they were supposed to be the elite students of this school," I whispered to Hinata, not wanting them to overhear. "Don't they go by the rules or something?"

Hinata shook her head. "They mostly do what they like since even the teachers are slightly afraid of them" she said and I snorted in a very un-ladylike manner. So 'elite' was just a cover for rebels, huh? Figures, but I didn't expect my cousin Sasori to be a part of Akatsuki. But still, he could have actually gotten in because of his smarts and general badass-ness.

We seemed to be the only high schoolers here except for that guy I had almost bumped into this morning and another redheaded girl with glasses. I sighed heavily. Why couldn't the teacher just get here already?

Then, the sound of echoing footsteps were heard, not from the doorway but from a stairway in the corner of the hall. I watched as three figures descended down the stairs, looking scarily untouchable, like they didn't belong to this world.

The one at the front was dark skinned with greasy black hair that hung like curtains at the sides of his face. Ugh, talk about creepy.

The next was a dude with strange flaming orange hair and lots of piercings on his face. His eyes were something I'd never seen before, almost like swirls. He looked serious and the type for no-nonsense as he descended down the stairs.

The last was a drop-dead gorgeous girl with short but unique electric blue locks and haunting grey eyes. One look told me that she had an amazing figure but she concealed it with a black long sleeved turtle neck and jeans, but still, she was really pretty. She too had a piercing on her chin and an origami flower in her hair. Her expression was serene as she took a seat in the front. If there had been more people, I would've let out an awed whistle. Whoever these people were, they had presence. I had thought Akatsuki was an all-male fraternity but they had a female in their midst? And judging by the way the boys circled her protectively, she must mean a lot to them.

I was about to ask Hinata what her name was but then, the oak door flew open and in walked Orochimaru, the stupid snake. He was wearing that sick grin again, eyeing us like meat.

Me, Hinata and glasses girl made a move to stand up to greet him but when the rest stayed put, we did too. We didn't want to make fools out of ourselves for sucking up to a teacher.

Orochimaru took no notice and instead let us eyes slide over all of us until they settled −alas− on none other than me.

"A new student? Please introduce yourself," he said in a silky voice and I couldn't help but feel like he was mocking me. Only then did the Akatsuki even realize that there was someone else among them who wasn't usually there. I could feel their gazes on me as I stood up. Deidara half-turned in his chair and waved at me. I smiled back but the smile soon disappeared from my face.

"Haruno Sakura," I said curtly, refusing to do a self introduction.

"Hmm? Nothing else to add?" Orochimaru grinned and I bristled. What did he want me to say anyway? My likes, dislikes and future ambition? I heard a snicker coming from the white haired dude named Hidan and glared in his general direction. Hadn't they ever seen a new girl before? And didn't Orochimaru already know me from that time I served detention?

"Nothing. Could we get to the lesson now please?" I added in irritation and Orochimaru laughed; an unpleasant grating sound that reverberated all throughout the building. When he didn't say no more, I sat down and took out my notebook.

Orochimaru proceeded to explain to us that today we were going to be examining the cross-section of a leaf and identifying all the parts –by ourselves.

"I will divide you into groups of two and you will cooperate with your partner and list down your observations as well as the functions of the parts you identify," I scowled at that. Orochimaru sure seemed to be having fun with this. I saw Hinata next to me pale. So this was what she had been afraid of. I didn't actually care. I just hope I won't be partnered with−

"Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Itachi." I groaned inwardly. I cannot believe this. Some higher power seemed determined to ruin my life. Or maybe it was just Oro-bastard and his sadism.

Saying goodbye to a terrified Hinata, I trudged reluctantly to Itachi's desk and slammed my book bag onto the table before grabbing a chair and sitting down as far away from him as possible, so as not to catch his smug, self-righteous cooties. Itachi himself sighed and sat down.

Orochimaru divvied up the whole class, partnering this person with that. A backwards glance told me that Hinata had been partnered by the blue-tinted guy. I smiled at her briefly before turning away. The blue haired dude seemed nice enough. At least, nicer than Hidan.

Cursing Orochimaru and his damned matchmaking abilities, I grabbed the microscope, adjusted it and started to peer through it. The actual exercise was easy enough; I just had no idea how I was going to survive being partnered with Itachi.

Letting out an irritated sigh, I wrote down the names of all the parts I could identify through the microscope and their functions. All the while, I could feel Itachi's dark eyes on me, watching my every move. I rolled my eyes.

"If you like, instead of staring at me, you can help out too," I said, and passed the microscope to him. Wordlessly, he peered through it, his dark bangs falling over the instrument.

"Pass me your notebook," Surprisingly, even though the actual words were commanding, the way he said it was different, like he was asking permission. I blinked. I had thought that he would just grab what wasn't his without the least hint of courtesy but turned out that he was actually polite? Who knew?

"Sakura, the notebook," he reminded me once again and I passed it to him, slightly distracted by how effortlessly my name rolled off of his tongue, like he had long since gotten used to uttering it. But wasn't this the first time he had called me by my given name?

Unbidden, my mind was assaulted by a sudden vision (I had no idea of whether it was a memory or a dream) of a younger version of myself, about ten years old, laughing and walking hand in hand with someone along a long winding road. The person's hard was warm, soft and I felt protected when I held it. His face was obscured by darkness but I could hear his laugh; a soft chuckle as we walked. I did not know who he was but I could've sworn that he had long dark hair…

"−kura? Sakura? Can you hear me?" I was jolted back into the present as Itachi's soft voice reached my ears. I blinked a few times to find him staring at me with a bemused expression on his face. Was it just me or did he look a lot like the mysterious boy in my vision/memory/dream/whatever?

No, Sakura. Don't be ridiculous. Of course it wasn't him. How the hell could it be him? I've only known him for a little while.

"Are you okay?" his cloudy dark eyes gazed into mine, a wisp of concern flowing through them.

"Yeah. Sorry. Spaced out there for a second. What do you need me for?" I asked, recovering quickly.

"Nothing. It's done." He said with a hint of smugness and passed my notebook to me. Sure enough, he had written down all of the parts I couldn't identify and had even included a surprisingly good drawing of the cross section. Impressive, though I hate to admit it.

I glanced around the hall to see that none of the others were done yet. Sasori was chastising Deidara on something, the pierced girl and boy were talking quietly, Hinata was trying in vain to teach the blue dude how to use the microscope and Hidan was hissing at his partner Tobi. I smirked. Looks like we were the first to be done.

I raised my hand up and Orochimaru stalked over.

"We're done," I said with a smile and handed him the book.

Orochimaru scrutinized the book with his snake eyes and slowly, a knowing smirk began to form on his thin lips. I did not like the look of that one bit.

"Well done," he said. "I had a feeling you two would do well together," he hissed softly and my cheeks went red and I felt rather than saw Itachi scowl.

He graded us an A, much to my joy and just moments later, the bell rang, signaling the end of the lesson. Orochimaru asked the rest to turn in their assignments and grinned once again at Itachi and me as we packed our bags.

"I do **not** like the look he is giving us," I said slowly to Itachi and to my surprise, he agreed. Why was I asking him anyway? Okay, okay, if I was being honest, I would say that Itachi didn't seem quite as bad as I thought he would be. In fact, he was quite tolerable today. I just hope it lasts.

Orochimaru cleared his throat, gaining out attention.

"I have deemed your work satisfactory," he started and I beamed. Maybe Orochimaru he wasn't so bad after all.

Itachi nudged me softly. "He's not done yet," he said. The teacher smirked and I gulped. I guess I thought too soon.

"Itachi and Sakura, you two will be biology partners for the rest of the year."

Well shit.

* * *

"- And then he made us freaking Bio partners for the whole damn year," I finished relating my adventures of the morning Bio period to the gang over lunch at the school grounds, which was a grassy plane with benches set up for us to have lunch and stuff. We didn't want to go off-campus today because our group was so large and shit but hey, I didn't mind since I at least got to stay outdoors. It kicked ass that this school had tons of epic places to eat. We ate breakfast in the Main Hall mostly and sometimes the cafeteria, lunch here and dinner again in the Main Hall and the food was pretty sweet. Yeah, food was awesome.

Tenten laughed at my discomfort.

"Come on Saks, he can't be that bad. Hinata says that the blue skinned dude was pretty cool." Hinata nodded in agreement.

"Kisame-san was actually pretty nice," she said with a smile. "I'm sure Itachi-san is too."

I wanted to protest on the subject but shut my mouth at the last possible minute. Now that I think about, he hadn't been that douchey today. He'd actually been tolerable- nice even. Dare I believe that it would last?

Noticing my thoughtful expression, Ino smirked.

"Falling for him yet?" she asked and I flicked one of my fries at her.

"In your dreams," I drawled, withdrawing my earlier opinion of Itachi to definitely be a one-time thing. Of course he was a prick. Maybe he hadn't gotten much sleep the earlier night, thus leading him to be eerily nicer than usual. Yes, that was it.

"Me thinks the lady doth protest too much," Kiba said jokingly, choosing that exact moment to quote Shakespeare and I roll my eyes. Shakespeare didn't appeal to me, as blasphemous as many people might think that to be. Too much big words and such.

Naruto elbowed Kiba in the gut. "That might be the dorkiest thing you've ever said man," he laughed while the ever-emo Uchiha smirked from next to the blonde, the action familiar to that of his brother but far less annoying. I eyed the book that he was reading. With a snort, I realized that it was Lord of the Rings. Seemed like Sasuke had a dorky side to him as well, not that I'm implying that people who've read it are dorks or anything. That was stereotyping. It was just that I couldn't imagine him reading fantasy. Vaguely, I wondered if Itachi read fantasy and science fiction too and laughed out loud at the mental image of him donned in fake armor and wielding a wooden sword, all set for a game of dungeons and dragons.

The gang looked at me with weird looks on their faces and I waved at them flippantly before attaching my badass headphones onto my ears. Yes, I was one of those people who couldn't live without music and I was damn proud of it.

I scrolled through my list of songs –mostly alternative rock or grunge− until I found a song and pressed play.

Midlife Crisis by Faith no more started to play and I grinned. I loved that song!

_You're perfect yes it's true_

_But without me, you're only you_

_Your menstruating heart_

_It ain't bleeding enough for two_

_It's a midlife crisis…_

Weirdly, just as I was humming along to the (totally badass) chorus, the main doors of the school opened and out walked Kakashi, reading his (porn, Naruto had told me) book. He was totally in a midlife crisis! With a start, I realized that he was headed towards _our_ bench. What the hell?

"Sakura," Kakashi drawled as he reached us and we all raised our eyebrows in identical 'what is it Kakashi, don't fucking interrupt when we're eating' looks on our faces. He sighed and turned to me of all people, ignoring the others.

"You're wanted in the Head Mistresses office," he said and I frowned.

"What did I do this time?" I asked in surprise. I hadn't even done anything. Really, not even been sarcastic to a teacher so what gives?

Kakashi sighed (he sure did that a lot) "She wants to see you," he says and I mutter fine and say goodbye to my friends, smiling sheepishly at their puzzled looks while following Kakashi.

I sighed heavily. Was was it with me and getting sent to the office?

* * *

Well, there it was. Sorry if it was crappy, I'm taking things slow and I'm currently in the middle of a troublesome (in the words of Nara Shikamaru) writer's block and this was the best I could come up with. I promise the next chapter will be worth it! I don't know when I will update again because exams are coming and all that jazz but I will try my best.

Review please!

Love,

Alistair.


	4. Author's Note Please read

Hello. I'm so sorry if I got your hopes up but this is not a new chapter.

I'm writing this to inform you that sadly, I won't be able to update any of my stories until the tenth of December because my exams are going to start soon. I'm really sorry but I have to do this since I really need to get good grades this semester. I really hope you don't abandon this story ^^

I shall try to squeeze in an update from time to time.

Expect an updating spree once I get back on the scene on the tenth.

Again, sorry!

Love,

Alistair


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